When dealing with loss, the final stage is acceptance. It might be time to accept the Colorado Avalanche aren't the same goal-scoring powerhouse they used to be.
It seems their coach has.
"We're not this high-flying, high-powered offense anymore," Jared Bednar said after his team struggled to create offense, again, in a 3-1 loss at the St. Louis Blues. "We have to do other things better than we had in the past, but we still need to score enough goals to win. Two goals in two games isn't going to win you a whole lot."
No, it will not.
It's not that the Avalanche can't score at all. They're just outside the top 10 in the NHL in goals-per-game at 3.17. That's not bad, but it's not what fans have been accustomed to in recent years.
In the five seasons between 2019 and 2024, the Avalanche led the NHL in goals scored twice and finished lower than fourth only once. That one time was in 2022-23, a year where the Avalanche were remarkably top heavy and never felt like a team that had the juice to go all the way. They never had captain Gabriel Landeskog. Valeri Nichushkin was in and out of the lineup. And the depth players struggled to produce.
Sounds similar to this season's squad, doesn't it? If it's not Nathan MacKinnon's line or the top defensive pair generating offense, not a whole lot else is happening.
It's now been six games since the Avalanche got a goal from a forward not named MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen or Martin Necas. They've gotten goals in that timeframe from defensemen, but at some point those three forwards are going to need some help.
Is the coach concerned?
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"Yeah, I think so," Bednar said. "All three of those lines, if you look through how many guys have gone 10, 12 games with just a point or two, it's the bulk of them. It can't just be the top line, the power play and a couple 'D' scoring.
"We have to find a way to chip in a little bit more with those other lines."
The concern stems from the fact this isn't a new problem. It's been an issue all season. Maybe the potential return of Nichushkin fixes some of the issues, but the team's depth scoring shouldn't hinge on one player being available.
If the Avalanche aren't going to score a ton of goals anymore, they must keep the puck out of their own net. To their credit, they've buckled down defensively.
In eight of their last 12 games, they've held their opponents to 1.68 expected goals against or less at even strength. They aren't giving up a ton of chances against, but when you're only scoring one or two at the other end, it's hard to consistently win with the league's current talent level.
For years the Avalanche held an advantage over most other teams in the NHL. They were so talented their margin for error was greater than the rest of the league. They could dominate for 20 minutes of a 60-minute game and still walk away with an easy win. A two- or three-goal deficit was never too much to overcome.
That's not the case this season.
That margin for error no longer exists. If this team takes its foot off the gas for even a few minutes, they find themselves in trouble.
You are what your record says you are in the NHL, and the Avalanche are currently a wild card team. That sounds about right. They aren't the high-flying team they used to be. Until they show otherwise, they shouldn't be considered a Stanley Cup contender, either.
